Toddlers and 2-Year Old Programming
"I'm just a kid, I have a lot of stuff to do yet."
~ Clint Eastwood
Our commitment to quality care continues in our Toddler and 2-year old rooms. Children at this age are eager learners who energetically interact with materials and people. We at the center realize that an environment and curriculum that encourages each child's growing need of independence is a basis for developing and mastering life skills and a positive self esteem. By playing in both large and small groups, these children will learn valuable social skills needed to effectively interact with others. While engaging in fun activities toddlers and 2-year olds will discover their likes and talents and will be exposed to fundamentals such as: colors, shapes, self-help skills, as well as social and language development.
Children under the age of 2 years old will have a notebook system for direct communication with their teacher(s). In this notebook the teacher will log the daily activities, feedings and the rest times of your child. Parents will be asked to list pertinent information that will ensure the individualized schedule of each child is up-to-date, to inculde but not limited to: the last time your child ate, slept and was changed, as well as mood and sleeping patterns of the night before. Parents of 2-year olds will find daily information posted in the Parent Area of the room.
Arts for Kids has an individualized program for the needs of children ages of
6-weeks to 2-years old.
All children will have individual contact and attention through feeding, diapering and learning experience.
Each child will follow their individual routine of feeding and sleeping set by their home environment.
The children will be provided with equipment to fit their educational development and creative expression appopriate to their age level.
Daily communication with parents:
~ A notebook for each child under two years of age will be sent home with parents summarizing child's activities.
Parents will bring back notebook with information for teachers.
Staff will ensure that throughout the day infants will be moved into different activities.
Potty Training Policy
If parents and the center are in agreement that a child is developmentally ready, Arts for Kids will begin to encourage potty training at age 2.
At 2-1/2 years old age, regular potty training is part of our daily program and routine. Children will be encouraged to wear pull-ups or underwear (depending on progress) and have plenty of extra pull-ups or underwear on hand. They will be taken to the bathroom every 2 hours (possibly more often at the beginning). If a child is wearing underwear, they will be put in a pull-up or diaper for naps, unless completely trained. We will use lots of praise for a "job well done" and lots of understanding when "accidents happen" if a child has a rough day.
Sometimes potty training can happen overnight and sometimes it can be a long process - we just need to have a lot of patience.
January 2023 News!
Toddler 1
Hello Everyone,
Hope everyone enjoyed the presents that your child made for you for Christmas! We worked hard at them! Hope everyone enjoyed and had a fun, relaxing Christmas! We did many Christmas art projects in December. We did stamp art Christmas, shapes, made stockings, painted big paper ornaments using paintbrushes, we used do-a-dot markers on paper trees! Our friends seemed to enjoy watching the dancing and singing Santa, playing in the sensory table with shredded paper, Christmas boxes, and shovels. We walked and played on the playground when we had the nice snowfall. It was beautiful. We enjoyed dressing up with Santa hats, and winter scarfs and hats. We read stories: “Where are Baby’s Christmas Presents?” “Santa Paws,” and “Musical Jingle Bells.” We’ve been singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.”
In January we have themes for Winter! We also have parent–teacher conferences. Sign up sheets will come out closer to the dates. Thank you!
Enjoy your month and stay warm!
God Bless You All,
Karen & Morgan
Toddler II
Welcome, 2023!
We had a great passed year and we’re very excited to start a new one with your children, they are always a pleasure to have in class! To begin the new year we are going to start off talking about friendship.
Then let’s open our eyes and ears to all the different animals and sounds they make. Following that let's hear your best dinosaur roars when we learn about dinosaurs. Next we will step right into sharing. Learning to share and be kind to others goes a long way.
To top off the end of the month we will talk about Groundhog Day.
Happy New Year!
Ms. Cynthia & Ms. Tina
Toddler III
Hope you all had a great Christmas with your families! It is such a fun time of year! In December we worked on winter themed art along with colors and shapes.
In January we will continue to work more on colors, shapes and letters as well.
Don’t forget about Parent/Teacher Conferences this month.
Hope you all have a great New Years!
Ms. Marissa
2's I
Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. This month our themes are: winter animals, snowmen/ice, penguins, nursery rhymes, and dental health! Parents, if anyone would like to schedule a conference with me I will have a sign-up sheet outside my door. I am only available on Tuesday, January 17th. Please check your child’s cubby for artwork or important paperwork. Parents please make sure to have extra clothes, coats, hats, snowpants, boots, and mittens in your child’s cubby. It is cold outside and we go out as long as it is 0 degrees or up with the wind chill. If you have any questions you can always talk to me personally or message me on HiMama. I look forward to seeing everyone in the new year!
Thank you,
Ms. Ashley and Mr. Jacob
2's-III
Hello Families!
December was lots of fun in 2’s III! We started the month off by learning about Winter. We used our language skills to talk about the clothing we need for the cold months and learned a song to help us remember the order in which we put on our winter gear. Sung to the tune of Clementine it goes – 1st the snow pants, then the snow boots, then our jackets and our hats, last our gloves on then we’re ready, we are ready to go out. With the crazy weather, we got plenty of practice in dressing and undressing while getting our snow gear on/off. We sit to put on our snow pants, and you might hear your child say they need to find their toes before standing to pull them up the rest of the way. We also use the “magic flip” method to put on our jackets and stand to put on our boots. The children take such pride in being able to get their snow/winter gear on themselves without help! We did a variety of winter related activities to build our motor skills, eye hand coordination and creativity, such as painting the northern lights (which became their Christmas cards) decorating our own unique snowflake, playing winter match games and sorting games with snowflakes, snowmen, and snow gear, and we even went bowling for snowmen cups! After Winter we learned about Gingerbread. We read books with different versions of the gingerbread man story including a few where he doesn’t get eaten and one with a gingerbread puppy who becomes the gingerbread man’s pet! The children even got to try some gingersnap cookies which had mixed reviews. We used our artistic creativity to decorate a paper gingerbread person using food coloring and shaving cream, which gave us some very cool results! The last couple of weeks of December were spent learning about different holidays, working on our family Christmas gifts, and getting ready for New Years as we learned about different ways people celebrate. I hope you enjoyed receiving their Christmas ornament and card as much as they enjoyed making them! We will kick off the new year by building our social, language, and motor skills as we learn about common winter animals.
A big thank you for keeping me aware of any changes in your child’s sleeping, eating, toileting, and behavior so that I can help make the day go smoother for them! If you have any questions/concerns about your child, feel free to ask!
Have a wonderful and blessed New Year!
Ms. Sara B and 2’s III
